The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connectors and more particularly to bridge connectors that mechanically and electrically couple two or more circuit boards together.
Some electrical devices or systems use circuit board assemblies in which two or more circuit boards are fastened together. The circuit boards may be electrically coupled together in order to allows the circuit boards to transmit information between each other. For example, some known touchscreen systems utilize a display panel having multiple layers stacked upon each other. One of the layers may be a circuit board assembly having several circuit boards fastened together in a frame that forms the perimeter of a touchscreen area. The circuit boards are typically co-planar and include LEDs and phototransistor receivers. The LEDs and receivers form an optical grid along the touchscreen area that is used to determine the location of a touch. When a user touches the touchscreen area, the optical grid registers the touch information and relays the information through the circuit board assembly to a controller of the touchscreen system.
In one known method for coupling circuit boards together, a first circuit board is positioned adjacent to a second circuit board such that edges of the circuit boards are proximate to each other. Each circuit board includes a plurality of contact areas, such as bonding pads, that are formed along a corresponding edge. The contact areas of the first circuit board are aligned with the corresponding contact areas of the second circuit board. A conductive band formed from a conductive material is used to electrically couple the associated contact areas. However, although the circuit boards are electrically coupled to each other through the conductive bands, the conductive bands may not provide sufficient support to facilitate maintaining the positions of the circuit boards.
Other methods include soldering contacts to the surfaces of adjacent circuit boards and/or using resins or adhesives to couple the circuit boards together. However, these methods may have a limited ability to mechanically couple the circuit boards together such that the circuit boards maintain their spatial relationship. Furthermore, other methods generally involve using multiple steps in order to connect the circuit boards together.
Thus, there is a need for connectors that both electrically and mechanically couple two or more circuit boards together. There is also a need for a connector that may be applied to the circuit boards in order to couple the circuit boards together using fewer steps than at least some known connectors.